Improvements in children's services are already making a difference to the lives of children and young people, according to a recent Ofsted monitoring visit.
Peterborough City Council has made significant strides in improving its children's services since being judged inadequate in November 2023. A recent visit by His Majesty’s inspectors on 30 and 31 July 2024 highlighted several key areas of progress.
During the visit, inspectors focused on the experiences and progress of care leavers aged 18-25, especially those facing extra challenges like unstable housing, not being in school or work, or involvement with the criminal justice system.
Inspectors noted that senior leaders have been dedicated to improving outcomes for these young people, even with financial and political challenges. They have increased management capacity and hired more personal advisers (PAs) to support young people. These improvements are already making a positive difference.
The local offer for care leavers has been enhanced with input from care leavers and staff. Projects like the House project are being developed to provide a base for accessing services and helping care leavers gain new skills. Inspectors observed early signs of improvement, especially in how PAs are consistently reaching out to harder-to-engage young people.
However, the report also indicates that support is not consistent for all young people. Leaders must make rapid progress in key areas needing improvement, such as pathway planning and staff supervision, and ensure there are enough staff and resources.
Inspectors found that the local authority's self-evaluation is accurate and supported by effective auditing, but including more feedback from young people and routine consultation with partners could further strengthen the impact.
Councillor Katy Cole, Peterborough City Council's Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "We have and continue to focus our efforts on delivering meaningful change and improvements to Children's Services. This visit focused on our efforts to ensure our care leavers have better outcomes, and we are pleased that Ofsted has recognised our improvements. More importantly, we are confident this will offer the support our care leavers need to thrive.
"We’ve worked closely with external experts, staff, and care leavers to refocus the service. Financial resources have been committed to add much-needed capacity and resources. While there is still work to be done, we are confident that our ongoing efforts will lead to even better outcomes for our young people, and we remain dedicated to ensuring that every care leaver receives the support they need.”
Peterborough City Council is committed to ensuring better outcomes for care leavers and will continue to work with our care leavers, staff and partners across the system to sustain and build on these improvements.